{"id":36360,"date":"2016-03-09T15:59:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T21:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=36360"},"modified":"2016-03-09T15:59:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T21:59:10","slug":"oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/","title":{"rendered":"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chris Hayre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oak Park-River Forest wrestling coach Paul Collins lights up when he talks about his wrestlers\u2019 accomplishments — off the mat, that is. He proudly and rapidly fires off the names as if he is on a time limit.<\/p>\n

Collins called Stanford University-bound senior Gabe Townsell the most talented kid he ever has laid eyes on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe taught himself how to play piano, he writes phenomenal poetry and just so happens to be a national champion wrestler,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n

The passion and intensity in Collins\u2019 voice does not waver when talking about another one of his senior wrestlers, Chris Yen, who received an academic scholarship to Johnson & Wales, a culinary school in Providence, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be the next great American chef,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

OPRF won its third consecutive dual state title last month, but the winning \u2013 and there is plenty of it \u2013 does not tell the entire story of the Huskie wrestling program. It is a family affair built on the foundation of developing exceptional wrestlers and even better people. The program\u2019s rallying cry of being \u201cIn Relentless Pursuit\u201d applies to parents, coaches and wrestlers alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody else is doing this,\u201d said Collins, who is also a special education teacher at the school. \u201cNo other teams in the building, no other teams in the country, no other teams in the state are doing the things that we\u2019re doing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins, 34, who just completed his second season as head coach, has a long history as a Huskie. His father, Niall, coached the program from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. Paul wrestled at the school before serving as a longtime assistant to former OPRF coach Mike Powell.<\/p>\n

Powell stepped down from the top post in 2014 due to health reasons, but remains heavily involved in the program. It was Powell\u2019s vision to accelerate the program\u2019s resources and opportunities that led to the creation of the Huskie Wrestling Family non-profit organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really saw that to develop a team, it needs to be a year-round, multi-faceted approach,\u201d said Jonna Borgdorff, mother of former OPRF wrestlers who still spearheads many of the non-profit\u2019s responsibilities. \u201cYou can\u2019t just coach hard in the room and then leave teenagers or grade school kids out to make their own mistakes. You need to be involved with them all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind every pin, there is a parent feverishly raising money so the program can afford to participate at the most competitive wrestling tournaments in the nation. Wrestlers are also afforded other enriching experiences, including last summer when Collins took six seniors to Louisville, Kentucky for a service project with Habitat for Humanity.<\/p>\n

Townsell said the trips allow for wrestlers to give back, work as a cohesive unit and become closer off of the mat. It also is another way that Collins, Powell and the other coaches can articulate their goal for them to be complete people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ve got to look at them being more concerned and more caring about the kids and them developing as young men and young women \u2013 character \u2013 then wins and losses on the wrestling mat,\u201d said Richard \u201cDoc\u201d Townsell, Gabe\u2019s father and coach of the Little Huskies wrestling program.<\/p>\n

While winning remains paramount at a national powerhouse, Collins doesn\u2019t measure the program\u2019s ultimate success by takedowns and pins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never about how good of a wrestler they were,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIt\u2019s never about that. It\u2019s always about the kind of man they were when they left this program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Oak Park-River Forest celebrates its third consecutive dual state title. (Jonna Borgdorff\/HUSKIE WRESTLING FAMILY)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris Hayre Oak Park-River Forest wrestling coach Paul Collins lights up when he talks about his wrestlers\u2019 accomplishments — off the mat, that is. He proudly and rapidly fires off the names as if he is on a time limit. Collins called Stanford University-bound senior Gabe Townsell the most talented kid he ever has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":36384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[2231,192,2232],"class_list":["post-36360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-oak-park","tag-promo","tag-wrestler"],"yoast_head":"\nOak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Chris Hayre Oak Park-River Forest wrestling coach Paul Collins lights up when he talks about his wrestlers\u2019 accomplishments — off the mat, that is. He proudly and rapidly fires off the names as if he is on a time limit. Collins called Stanford University-bound senior Gabe Townsell the most talented kid he ever has […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-09T21:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"499\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"christopherhayre\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"christopherhayre\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/\",\"name\":\"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-09T21:59:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/4720ce65be0d5ec33b8b8327959febc2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":499},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/4720ce65be0d5ec33b8b8327959febc2\",\"name\":\"christopherhayre\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cf4aea0587e4fa2f50cdf466dd9b326786897cb19cd0bdf1f801fec4b0b7fc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cf4aea0587e4fa2f50cdf466dd9b326786897cb19cd0bdf1f801fec4b0b7fc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"christopherhayre\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/christopherhayre\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Chris Hayre Oak Park-River Forest wrestling coach Paul Collins lights up when he talks about his wrestlers\u2019 accomplishments — off the mat, that is. He proudly and rapidly fires off the names as if he is on a time limit. Collins called Stanford University-bound senior Gabe Townsell the most talented kid he ever has […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-03-09T21:59:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":499,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"christopherhayre","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"christopherhayre","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/","name":"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg","datePublished":"2016-03-09T21:59:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/4720ce65be0d5ec33b8b8327959febc2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/OPRF-1.jpg","width":1100,"height":499},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/oak-park-river-forest-wrestling-success-goes-beyond-mat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Oak Park-River Forest wrestling success goes beyond mat"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/4720ce65be0d5ec33b8b8327959febc2","name":"christopherhayre","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cf4aea0587e4fa2f50cdf466dd9b326786897cb19cd0bdf1f801fec4b0b7fc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cf4aea0587e4fa2f50cdf466dd9b326786897cb19cd0bdf1f801fec4b0b7fc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"christopherhayre"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/christopherhayre\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}